A’s set record for largest attendance in MLB this year, defeat Giants in extras

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Jonathan Lucroy #21 of the Oakland Athletics celebrates with teammates after he hit an rbi walk off single to defeat the San Francisco Giants 4-3 in the bottom of the 11th inning at the Oakland Alameda Coliseum on July 21, 2018 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

OAKLAND — It was as if the Coliseum hopped into a time machine that was set to the early 2000s. The stadium was packed, even Mount Davis, and the A’s treated the raucous home crowd with a finish that sent them into a frenzy.

On a night where Mount Davis was re-opened to the public for the first time in 13 years, 56,310 fans packed the house to set the record for the largest crowd ever at the Coliseum, as well as the largest attendance for a MLB game this season, to watch Jonathan Lucroy walk it off for a 4-3 victory over the Giants in 11 innings Saturday night.

Matt Chapman and Chad Pinder got the two-out rally in the 11th started with back-to-back singles against Will Smith. Lucroy, who entered the game in the tenth as a defensive replacement, then flipped a single to the right field gap that drove home Chapman for the winning run.

“I’ve played in front of a lot of people in a dome when it gets real loud. It’s pretty intense,” Lucroy said. “It’s fun to be on the field for that and any time you get that energy from the crowd it really is a special time. I wish we could do that every night here.”

The win puts the A’s (56-43) at 22-7 since June 16, the best record in the majors over that time. In that stretch, it was the ninth time the A’s have scored the winning run in the eighth inning or later. That type of stat could be interpreted as plain good luck by some, but coming back from behind often is what Lucroy sees as the mark of a playoff team.

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“Good teams win any way they can. Good teams are gonna win early and they’re gonna win late,” Lucroy said. “We’ve done both this year, but the best teams win late when everything is on the line. If we can keep on doing what we’re doing, stay consistent, I really feel like we’ll be there in the end.”

A rare blown save by All-Star closer Blake Treinen sent what was looking like another automatic win into extras. Needing one more strike to record the final out of the game, Treinen surrendered a double down the right field line to Hunter Pence that rolled to the Giants bullpen and scored Alen Hanson all the way from first base to tie the game. The game-tying run came with a bit of controversy as the Stephen Piscotty appeared to make contact with Giants reliever Mark Melancon, who scrambled away with a bullpen chair in hand as he attempted to create a clear path for Piscotty. A’s manager Bob Melvin came out and spoke with the umpires to see if a challenge could be issued for interference, but it was deemed that Melancon did not intentionally make contact with Piscotty.

“Accidental or not, it obstructed my play and it shouldn’t be my fault,” Piscotty said. “I felt like I shouldn’t have been penalized for that. It looked like he was kind of trying to get out of the way or kind of dangling there, but with the bullpen on the field it was chaos down there. I don’t really fault the Giants for it.”

Like they’ve done so often this season, the A’s patience at the plate and ability to make a pitcher work paid off.

Madison Bumgarner was cruising through four innings, but the A’s made him throw 28 pitches in the fifth inning, including a pair of eight-pitch walks by Chad Pinder and Marcus Semien. The left-hander ended up walking in two runs in the inning before getting pulled from the game, and Mark Canha’s double play which scored another run ended up also charged to Bumgarner as he allowed three runs with six walks in just four innings despite only allowing two hits.

“That was really the key to the game for us,” Melvin said. “The walks were key in that inning. We got just enough to get a lead. The key to that game for us was making him work and getting him out of there.”

Entering the night with a 0.64 ERA in four starts at the Coliseum this season, Cahill continued his impressive run at home by holding the Giants to just a run on two hits and three walks, striking out five over 5 2/3 innings of work.

With the Mariners losing to the White Sox earlier in the day, the A’s are now just three games back of Seattle for the second wild card spot in the American League.

Martin Gallegos is a multimedia beat reporter covering the Oakland Athletics. A native of San Jose, he frequently attended ballgames at both AT&T Park and the Oakland Coliseum as a kid. Prior to covering the A's, he covered the Earthquakes, San Jose State football, and high school sports around the Bay Area. A self-proclaimed "Burrito Connoisseur," Martin is constantly on the search for the best burrito in each Major League city.